Xseed Would Be "Honored" To Work With The Tales Series

Responding to a Facebook fan inquiring about Tales localizations, an Xseed employee typed, "We’d be honored to work on the series if ever given the opportunity, but not our decision to make."

Xseed has picked up a few Namco Bandai published titles in the past like Retro Game Challenge, Fragile, and Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces. The latter of which Namco Bandai Games published themselves in Europe.

There’s a relationship between the two companies for sure, but will Namco Bandai entrust one of their key franchises to Xseed?

Not really news is it? You’re gonna get the general “I hate Bamco” and “Maybe they’ll bring this one!” comments and same old from there.

epy

Yeah! I hate Bamco, but maybe they’ll be smart enough to let XSEED bring some of them in the future.

Was that good enough? I love meeting people’s expectations.

Guest

Sorry not good enough. =PLook at this entire article. Same old dumb arguments and comments.

epy

=(

Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Ok then…

Dear Namdai,
Don’t bring ANY of those Tales games here! If you do, then you’d make MONEY *gasp* and you wouldn’t want THAT now would you? Oh, and your fans will wuuuuvvv you too! Wouldn’t that be teeerrrrible? Aren’t you just having a company heart attack thinking about that wooonnderful feeling? Ok, I’ll stop the teasing. You can go back to your itsy bitsy dungeon box of fun and watch each of your fans suffer through those monitors… I know you *enjoy* it. :3

It just wouldn’t be a post about XSEED without one of these, would it?

Gestahl

Come on, people, you don’t really need to be an expert in Japanese to play this game. Just import it already, it’s still available on Play-Asia.

The only game that requires a Japanese knowledge is the Detective Arino, but there’s a nice guide for it on GameFAQs.

Of course you’ll miss on the whole “Gaming magazines” and “talking to Arino” deal, but it’s still better than nothing.

nyoron

Yeah I could probably have fun with it if I just played the import but I would still rather see it in English for the reasons you mentioned. Why should localization whining be limited to Tales games only? I’m sure it has just as good a chance too (i.e. none).

I almost think Siliconera posts about Bamco just to see all the hilarious comments people leave, admittedly it’s one of the reasons I check posts about them.I would 100% love if Xseed was allowed to localize for them, I think the only thing getting in the way is Bamco’s ego. I can’t imagine how upset they’d be if it got localized by a new company and did well.

I don’t think they’ll get upset, just surprised. “We’re making money for once?!”

zhemos

They wouldn’t even let Atlus localize any Tales games, hell will freeze over before they let a small company like xseed touch their *baby* nothing against xseed btw, <3 you guys.

Also, I hate Namco.

Code

Who do you wanna see localize it then >w<;;

zhemos

If I got to pick, Atlus.

epy

Only Atlus doesn’t localize niche games anymore.

Ereek

Because Trine 2, Rock of Ages, and Cursed Crusade aren’t niche?A game doesn’t need to be made in Japan to be considered “niche.” If SMT could be considered “niche” and sells 50,000+ copies in the west, how is a title like, say, Trine 2, that will probably sell less than the average SMT title, not niche?Or would you consider niche a style of game, more than anything? Because if so, then you could count in FF, DQ, Pokemon, the like, as “niche.”

SolidusSnake

Correction: They don’t localize niche JRPGs unless they’re developed by Atlus or Sting.

Ereek

@Solidus
Haha, I can agree with that one.

Their PS3 games were originally niche and climbed themselves out of the “niche rut,” so to speak. 3D Dot Game Heroes didn’t break much more than 10,000 in Japan, yet sold over ten times that in North America alone.

I don’t even need to mention Demon’s Souls and its success. I think winning GotY at GameSpot automatically makes it “non-niche” at this point.

Well, maybe we’ll see some more this year? Is that being too optimistic of me?

malek86

Atlus and Sting? I wish that was true. There has been no word on Blaze Union or Yggdra Unison. They only gave us the KITN port (which admittedly is better than the original, but still).

epy

Thanks SolidusSnake. I mean niche JRPGs as you mentioned.

Kaoro

If Xseed WAS allowed to license a Tales game and the game does achieve modest popularity, I don’t think Namco would like having a different publisher’s name associated with their series.

Would be interesting if they did allow Xseed/Atlus/Aksys localize one of their Tales games, though.

Joanna

That’s exactly the problem. Bamco is afraid that if another localizer/publisher successes, the Tales of… series will become associated with them, but they don’t want to take the risk themselves because they expect too much from the games.I find the first silly since I don’t see the average consumer/gamer caring about whose name is on the back of the box. The actual name of the game is what matters. I used to be like that too, way back and didn’t pay attention to publishers. For the more knowledgeable fans that keep up with the industry (such as ourselves), it also won’t matter because we just want the games and unless Bamco does a “Ignition-level” localization, it won’t matter if it’s XSEED or them that is brining over the next game. Ah well, like others said, Bamco using their brains would implode time and space. |:

In a perfect world, we’d get more Tales games over here. Sadly, Bamco is too stubborn to let anyone like XSEED bring the games over here, let alone Bamco themselves.

Heck, I think that if an outside company brings Tales games over here, they’d do a much better job at marketing it here than Bamco.

MizuMikomi

Marketing is Namco’s number one problem with the Tales series here, since they release the games close to popular releases from Square Enix or other companies thinking they can compete. And yet they don’t advertise, they dig their grave deeper with every release because of stupid business moves.

Personally I only found out about Tales by an online friend, and if it weren’t for him I would have never known about this great series. So they need to advertise and release it in OPEN TIME SLOTS, no FF releases, No DQ release. They need to release them in obscure months where people don’t normally release Blockbuster titles. Then they would get more sales, also a little advertising wouldn’t kill them, as I already stated.

I first heard about the Tales series when I read about Symphonia in Nintendo Power years ago. I forgot about it for a while and only heard about it again from a friend around the time Vesperia came out. The one thing I always like to point out to my friends, online and RL, is how Square-Enix rushed Star Ocean 3 when it got released in Japan and it ended up being really buggy. At least with SE, they apologized by releasing a director’s cut version some time later. You’d never see that happening with Bamco.

With Bamco, they’d rush a game to one system, call it a beta, and then claim they’re developing the “actual” game for another system.

PurpleDoom

And then, in Vesperia’s case, leave the “beta” version the only localized one. Hopefully someone manages to give Bamco an enticing enough offer to make them think it’s worth localizing the PS3 titles at least.

MizuMikomi

This is what pisses me off the most, I loved Vesperia when I had my 360, but due to a few issues I was having, I ultimately ended up selling it. Since then I have been desperate to play it once again, but Namdai obviously doesn’t see it profitable to bring it stateside.

Also I still find it comical that some Japanese companies think the PS3 install base in places other than Japan, is small. I mean seriously, how many companies have said that within the past few years? At least 3 or 4 from what I remember.

kupomogli

Yeah. According to VGChartz the PS3 is only 4 million behind the 360. The PS3 has more 360 sales at this time than the 360 did at the Vesperia release.

Getting the PS3 version of Eternal Sonata and not the PS3 version of Vesperia is frustrating, since Vesperia is superior and I wouldn’t mind replaying it on another system. Can’t say the same about ES.

But yeah, I’m on the same page about their poor decisions to release stuff during the worst times possible.

MizuMikomi

I wasn’t referring to the remakes, I was referring to the fact they make poor decisions, their release dates are always close to another more popular title, and then they have these ridiculously high selling expectations for the series.

Example? Tales of Graces F comes out December 2nd, just ONE DAY after Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, another example: Venus and Braves comes out the same day as Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep Final Mix. Now you tell me which of those groups is going to sell better than the other? I think its pretty obvious.

Maybe they should fire the monkeys that make all their marketing decisions and get some people with some freaking common sense before releasing another title. Otherwise they will continue to shoot themselves in the foot with every release, Tales or not.

vadde939

Common sense from Bamco? When hell freezes over. But I guess it doesn’t hurt to be optimistic.

MizuMikomi

LOL, You have the best comment I have seen all night!
But yeah, I am always way too optimistic abotu everything, I am still hoping that somehow Vesperia PS3 will be localized, even though it doesn’t stand a bloody chance, haha!

If Xseed is localising Tales… Then what about the epic zero no kiseki?? Trails in the sky is gona take some time too.. Xseed plz hire more staff… sobs…

PurpleDoom

They’re not localizing Tales as of now – they just said they’d like to. On the other hand, they have an exclusive deal with Nihon Falcom. I think that if either Tales or Zero no Kiseki were to come over, Zero no Kiseki would be the obvious choice. In short: Zero no Kiseki is MUCH more likely to get localized by XSEED than any Tales game.

Hours

It would be great if XSEED, Atlus or Aksys got a chance to do the Tales series, because Bamco USA obviously has no interest in doing it themselves.

XSEED, this is the time, THIS IS THE TIME WHEN YOU HAVE TO ACT LIKE A KID ASKING PAPA FOR A NEW TOY! YOU CAN DO IT! PAPA ALWAYS SAYS YES AT THE END!

Exkaiser

That’s really not how the process works, though!

Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Then how else can I get it to happen? I know… I GOTTA BELIEVE!

neogeno

Take it Namco!

Dimentionalist

Pleeeeeeeease Namco!

Also, Namco’s FB page has been ransacked by fans for months. At first I was worried since it was the mobile branch, but the merger means that “almost everyone knows about the demand (Namco rep’s words).”

I’d consider it news if a small jrpg localization company didn’t want to work with the Tales series. Zook from NISA has said in at least one Playstation Blog reply that they’d love to handle Vesperia, if they could. I’m sure if I dug long enough, I’d find something from Atlus and Aksys too.

PrinceHeir

please namco release it yourselves or just give it to Xseed. since they are willingly want to do it.

it’s kinda sad namco does not want to release tales in the west, yet the published Demon Souls themselves since it’s a surprisingly huge hit. damn it namco

I wonder which game they’d localize first, if they got the green light from Bamco?

I’d love Vesperia PS3 like everyone else on the planet. That being said, the Radiant Mythology sequels are a huge improvement over the first, which we actually got. Then there’s Graces, and… oh god, there are just too many to chose from.

Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Funny, I dropped them an email a while back asking about if they had any plans to localize Rune Factory Oceans for the PSWii and they responded similarly with this:

“We would be honored to work on the title if given the chance, but the final decision is up to Marvelous.” –Ken @ XSEED Games

Regarding Tales… I hope Namco would give them a chance too but… if they could only choose one to localize: a Tales game or this RF game then…!! >_<'

Ok, I'm being melodramatic and making imaginary dilemmas for myself.

Pichi

Seems like yet another generic answer thing when asks these type of questions. So this is looking like a no news thing if that’s the case. I wish Namco would either give it to someone else to localize or do it themselves and make sure not to expect high expectations/budget their costs accordingly.

Yusaku_Matsuda70s

Yup. The wording is sure is hopeful though. Ultimately, Namco needs to get the ball rolling themselves.

I will fall in love with xseed, if they have the oportunity to work with tales series for North America.

ragnarok989

Not this crap again, Seriously they’ve said they’d love to work on the Tales series like twenty times by now…still hasn’t gotten us any new Tales games in the US.

puchinri

Didn’t they once say before that they wanted to work on some game for Bamco, I think a Tales of game, and they were refused?

But I love Xseed, so I hope they do get to localize the games. They could always start with the ToD Director’s cut and work their way through the unlocalized titles (there are plenty of them, ports and such included).

You don’t know how many times I wish for this to happen….. many, many wishes please make this happen.

holyPaladin

Pretty please XSEED and Bamco?

Guest

I would imagine it would be a low risk move for someone else to front the publishing effort, but I doubt they would allow anyone else to touch their series. If they do it will likely be Tales of the Tempest and when it flops they will be able to go, “ah-ha! The west hates our series!”

RAVENKam

XSEED, the fans have spoken…

gatotsu911

Seeing as Namco Bandai appears to have thrown all its standards for anything whatsoever out the window, I imagine it should have no problem letting Xseed work on Tales. That’s not in any way intended to be a knock against Xseed, but it means Namco sure as hell won’t be doing anything themselves.

WonderSteve

5 years ago, I would have never imagined getting to play another Tales of…. games in English would be so difficult.

5 years ago, I also would never imagined seeing the English versions of the Trails in the Sky trilogy and Ys in my collection.

Is this newsworthy?? they already said that numerous times before, and it means nothing if Namco is not letting go of the series for wathever the reason they got.

We’ve been doing this dance for almost 10 Years people, since Destiny 2 (I mean, the real Destiny 2, not the Eternia renamed Destiny 2). Rebirth, the DS games, Destiny Directors cut, Symphonia dor PS2, etc etc etc. By now we should’ve learned that one can just wait or reason for a Tales games in US. If it cross the pacific, great, let’s play it! But if it stays in Japan, like most of the series, let’s go play something else.
Seriously, it’s like Bamco is an abusive husband and you guys are his battered wives. Let’s just flip them, they don’t deserve any kind of sympathy or support from western gamers after the Vesperia fiasco. Don’t want to bring the games, fine! we don’t need them.

Ereek

What’s with all the whining about “newsworthy” lately? This is the third time in three days when previously I think I’d only see it once or twice a year.

Not likely. When Tales of Graces F was announced and the whole flloding namco’s facebook happened, Xseed awnsered dozen times fans asking for them a localization with the same response: “We would like it, but it’s namco’s call”. And before that, Atlus did the same thing, and NISA, and even the now dead Working Designs years ago….

So, there’s nothing new here. We already know Xseed would do it if it could. But they can’t, so what’s the point in posting something we already know.
So this is just to flock some angry tales fans wanting to vent their frustrations… again.